Chapter 9: Web of Lies
1090 Words
"Are you sure this is the entrance?" I whispered, crouching low beside Liora, my heartbeat rattling like a caged beast.
She nodded, brushing dirt off a rusted grate half-hidden beneath gnarled tree roots. "It's one of the tunnels the Rogue Council abandoned. Nia’s scent was strongest here last night."
I glanced around. The woods were still, too still. “Then why does it feel like a trap?”
“Because it probably is,” she muttered. “We’re walking into the heart of their lies, Aria. Just try not to get killed.”
I smirked despite myself. “I’ll do my best.”
The grate gave a soft groan as we pried it open. We dropped into the cold tunnel one after another. The air below was stale and laced with the sour tang of old magic.
Liora lit a small flame between her fingers, casting flickering shadows along the stone corridor. “Stay close. These passages twist.”
We moved quickly. Every step echoed louder than I liked. The silence pressed around us like a warning. I tried not to think about Kade. About the last look he gave me before I vanished. About how I’d left him in the dark.
A memory surged up — his arms around me in that last fight, the quiet rasp of his voice, “Don’t die on me.” I pushed it away.
“Here,” Liora whispered. She pressed her palm to a carved rune on the wall. It shimmered faintly, then receded. A panel slid open to reveal a narrow stairwell.
“Underground meeting chambers,” she said. “Where they store the real secrets.”
We slipped down, each step colder than the last. At the bottom, the room opened into a circular vault lined with ancient tomes and cracked stone. And right in the center, glowing with faint sigils—
“By the moon,” I breathed. “That’s my family’s crest.”
Liora strode ahead, fingers brushing the symbol. “This was your clan’s chamber once. Before the Council claimed it.”
A voice rang out behind us. “How sentimental.”
We spun around. A man stepped from the shadows, face half-covered in a crimson mask. His scent hit me first — familiar, wrong.
“Hello again, Lady Moonfall,” he said with a mocking bow. “Didn’t expect your little death trick. Nicely played.”
My fists clenched. “Where’s Nia?”
He shrugged. “Safe. For now. But it’s not her you should be asking about.”
He waved a hand. A portion of the wall dissolved into mist, revealing a hidden chamber. Inside hung dozens of scrolls, maps, and blood-stained reports. Liora moved fast, scanning, eyes narrowing.
“These are… Council kill orders,” she said. “Marked with your family’s seal, Aria.”
My throat closed.
“That’s impossible,” I said. “My family didn’t—”
“They didn’t,” he cut in. “Someone made it look like they did.”
I stepped forward, shaking. “Who forged these?”
“Guess.”
Liora’s eyes widened. “No.”
I grabbed the nearest scroll. The ink bled across the parchment, but one name stood clear: Kade Blackthorn.
I blinked, my heart plummeting. “This says he led the raid. The massacre.”
The man laughed coldly. “Oh, he did. Proudly. You should’ve seen him. Efficient. Merciless. Just following orders… forged ones.”
“No,” I whispered.
“He believed your clan turned traitor. The Council made sure of that. And he walked right into the trap. Took everything from you.”
The room tilted.
“I don’t believe you,” I snapped. “Kade wouldn’t—he wouldn’t do that without proof.”
“He had proof. We gave it to him,” he said.
Liora grabbed my arm. “Aria, we need to go.”
“No,” I said, eyes locked on the scrolls. “I need to see more. I need to know everything.”
She hesitated, then nodded.
We pulled open drawers and tore through sealed files. Everyone told the same story — lies built on more lies. My family was painted as traitors, and the raid was authorized, executed, and buried in silence.
A tremor rippled through me. “They used Kade to wipe out my bloodline.”
“And he still doesn’t know,” Liora said quietly.
A sharp pain lanced through my chest. I stumbled back against the wall. “He’ll never forgive himself.”
“Neither will you,” the masked man said.
Suddenly, I heard it. A voice in my mind, quiet but unmistakable.
Aria.
Kade.
I closed my eyes.
I don’t know where you are, but I feel you. I dream of your blood on my hands. And I wake up screaming.
My breath hitched.
Come back to me, he said.
“I can’t,” I whispered. “Not yet.”
The echo of him in my mind broke something in me. I pressed my palm over my heart. “I’m so sorry.”
Liora looked away, giving me the privacy I didn’t deserve. I stood, steadying my breath.
“I know what they did now. And I know what I have to do.”
We turned to leave.
“Not so fast,” a voice called from behind us.
Another figure stepped into view, this one unmasked.
Liora hissed, stepping in front of me. “You.”
The woman smiled faintly. Her dark silver hair shimmered even in the dim light.
“Hello, Aria.”
My heart stopped. “Aunt Elyse?”
She nodded. “You’ve grown. And you’re braver than I expected.”
“You’re supposed to be dead,” I said, voice shaking.
“A useful myth,” she said calmly. “Let them think the Moonfall line was gone. It gave me freedom.”
Liora raised a dagger. “Why are you here?”
Elyse raised her hand. “If I wanted to kill you, you’d be dead already.”
“Then what do you want?” I asked.
“To warn you,” she said. “This… all of this? The scrolls, the forgeries, the lies? It’s only the surface.”
My eyes narrowed. “What’s underneath?”
“Someone close to you. Closer than you think.”
I took a step toward her. “You’re not making sense.”
She looked straight at me.
“The true enemy walks beside you—and it’s someone you trust with your life.”
- Writer
